A rookie made a major imprint on the game on Saturday, but it wasn’t the one playing shortstop for the Giants.
Casey Schmitt recorded two more hits — exceeding Willlie McCovey’s total through his first five games — but Diamondbacks right fielder Dominic Fletcher outshined him.
Fletcher, the 25-year-old rookie, crushed the go-ahead, bases-clearing triple in the sixth inning, a two-run home run in the eighth and made a key defensive play on the warning track earlier in the game.
Fletcher’s performance lifted Arizona to a 7-2 victory. Starter Anthony DeSclafani gave the Giants five strong innings, but departed with an apparent injury as the Giants (17-22) fell behind.
The way Zac Gallen has pitched so far this year, he presented the Giants with as tough an arm as the Giants will face. He entered with a 2.36 ERA and four starts with zero earned runs in eight tries.
Against Gallen, the Giants were short arguably their most dangerous bat against right-handed pitching in Joc Pederson. The designated hitter got hit by a pitch in his hand on Friday night; a scan reportedly showed no fracture, but he wasn’t available Saturday anyway.
Given that, SF impressively scratched across a run in the first inning. Thairo Estrada scored from third on a J.D. Davis flyout to the warning track in right-center field. Fletcher made a tremendous catch to rob Davis of extra bases and slung a throw to first base to double up LaMonte Wade Jr., albeit not before Estrada tapped home plate.
DeSclafani made that run go a long way. He allowed just two base runners through the first five innings, avoiding walks and pitching to soft contact.
Both DeSclafani and Gallen needed only 66 pitches to get through five innings.
To end the fifth inning, DeSclafani covered first base but appeared to grimace in pain after recording the third out. He came back out for the sixth inning, when two singles and a double loaded the bases with no outs. One of those singles required DeSclafani to sprint off the mound to field his position.
In that stretch, DeSclafani threw two sinkers that clocked in at 90.5 and 90.6 mph — his two slowest two-seamers of the night (his season average on the pitch is 93.3 mph). He left with trainer Dave Groeschner after 77 pitches.
DeSclafani missed almost the entirety of last season with a right ankle injury that required surgery. Instead of departing straight to the trainer’s room, the NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast captured DeSclafani watching Scott Alexander pitch in relief from the dugout rail — potentially an encouraging sign.
But he was watching when the Giants intentionally walked Christian Walker to load the bases for Fletcher, the former second round pick from 2019. Scott Alexander had the favorable left-on-left matchup, but it didn’t matter.
The rookie drove an Alexander fastball 103.4 mph off the bat into the right-center gap. His three-RBI triple put Arizona up 4-1.
Wilmer Flores drove in a run with a double in the eighth, but Tristan Beck gave it right back. The major turnpoint then? Fletcher’s two-run shot that Michael Conforto nearly robbed in right field.
Fletcher’s home run brought his season OPS to 1.232 in 12 games. He collected seven bases and a game-high five RBI with his 2-for-4 night.
In the two games of the weekend series leading up to Saturday, Fletcher had gone 6-for-8. The Giants never found a way to get him out.